Wonderful thing for Tuesday, 2 June:
Now that Pathway is in full gear and we're all fairly acquainted with its operation, and now that we've done the initial training sessions with the Young Men/Young Women organizations, we have a little more time to do outreach to individuals. Today we went to see our lovely friend. She is a member of the Pisa ward, but right now she is staying with her sister in Pistoia, recuperating from an operation, which puts her closer to us.
She is one of our Nigerian sisters. She was baptized several months ago; over time, she kind of got bogged down with "stuff" - most recently, depression. It's so interesting that when you're down, the things that could lift you up seem odious to you, you feel to draw away and thus go deeper still into your funk.
BUT the Lord is faithful; He will not abandon us. I love Him for that! She is his beautiful, wonderful daughter, with an amazing life ahead of her, and He is just not going to let go. She let us come to see her, we had a great talk, and then we read from the Book of Mormon.
"Enos" jumped right out at me as I was looking for a passage to read together. Discussing it afterward, we talked about how, at a certain point in his life, the principles his father had always taught him sunk deep into his heart. For whatever reasons, his life up till that point seems to have been rather superficial; but as truth flooded his mind, he was struck with a kind of amazed remorse, I would say; as in, "Why did I not see this before!? I did see it, but I wasn't willing to recognize it. Oh God, can you forgive me?"
This train of thought struck a definite chord with our friend. As we discussed the power of covenants, she realized that making a promise to study the scriptures every day, and to pray about what she reads, is just what she needs to persevere when the will comes to just move on to something mind-numbing or unprofitable.
There was a light in her face and joy in her eyes when we left - not for anything we did, but for the work the Spirit did for and through all of us as we talked, studied, and prayed.
This is what everything we do is all about, being edified and rejoicing together (D&C 50:22).
I love this work.
fun thing:
Today is the Festa della Reppublica Italiana, a celebration of the day in 1946 when the Italian citizenry decided they wanted to live in a republic instead of a monarchy. Viva Italia!
Hello Linda Hyde. So good to know you thorugh your profile on the bogger and the blog post. I am glad to stop by your blog post and was blessed to know the story of a young woman whom you have led to the Lord so that she could take baptism. I am so blessed to know how the Lord has blessed you with so many children and grand cildren. I have a great and high respect for missionaries because my parents in their early age came to know the Lord through missionaries who came to India in the beginning of 20th century. I am glad to know that you will be in Italy until 2016. Well you might be wondering who this stranger is. I am from Mumbai, India and have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have your young grown up kids come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you.
ReplyDeleteHello Linda Hyde. So good to know you thorugh your profile on the bogger and the blog post. I am glad to stop by your blog post and was blessed to know the story of a young woman whom you have led to the Lord so that she could take baptism. I am so blessed to know how the Lord has blessed you with so many children and grand cildren. I have a great and high respect for missionaries because my parents in their early age came to know the Lord through missionaries who came to India in the beginning of 20th century. I am glad to know that you will be in Italy until 2016. Well you might be wondering who this stranger is. I am from Mumbai, India and have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 37yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have your young grown up kids come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you.
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